Thill-coupling



' (No Model.)

W. M. SAYRE. THILL GOUPLING. No. 484,052. Patented Oct. 11, 1892.

NrrnD LTATES WINTHROP M. SAYRE, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Iatent No. 484,052, dated October 11, 1892. Application filed January 16, 1892. Serial No. 418,262; (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WINTHROP M. SAYRE, a citizen of the United States, residing in South Orange, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Oouplings, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to furnish an effective and expeditious means of coupling the thills of wagon-shafts detachably to the wagon-axle; and the invention consists in the particular construction hereinafter shown and described.

v In the annexed drawings only one of the couplings applied to one of the thill-irons is shown, Figure 1 being a side view of the thillcoupling with one of the thill-irons. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a section of the thill-coupling on line a" so in Fig. 4. Fig. 4. is a plan of the coupling with the cover removed. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line y y in Fig.3; and Fig. 6 is a front View of the socket,which is hinged to the axle-clip.

A is the base of one of the shafts; B, the thill-iron bolted to the same and provided upon the end with a rectangular box 0, fitted to slip freely within a socket d,which is jointed by lugs f to ears 9 upon the axle-clip h. The box is provided with spring-jaws e, projecting from its sides and engaging with holes f in the sides of the socket. The socket is of rectangular cross-section, as shown in Fig. 6, wholly closed upon the top, bottom, and sides, with a slot .z' in the front end of the top to admit a spindle j, by which the jaws e are retracted. The jaws are formed as levers pivoted within the box 0 upon a common fulcrum lo and are pressed normally outward through suitable openings in the sides of the box by a spring Z. The levers are provided with tailpieces I, projected beyond the fulcrum,and a button m is pivoted upon the spindle j between the tail-pieces in such relation that it may operate when turned crosswise, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, to separate the tailpieces and retract the ends of the jaws within the box. The spindle j projects through the top of the box 0 and a thumb-piece n is attached to its outer end, the spindle slipping into the slot '5 in the socket when the box is inserted therein.

Fig. 4 shows the jaws in full lines engaged with the sides of the socket, and one of the jaws is shown in dotted lines with the tailpiece pressed outward and the jaw retracted within the box. The ends of the jaws are formed as hooks to catch in the holes f and their outer faces 6 are sloped toward the outer end of the box, so that when the box is slipped within the socket d the jaws are automatically pressed inward in opposition to the spring Z. When the box is forced to the bottom of the socket, the jaws are pressed outward by the spring Z into the holes f and the thill is then looked into thesocket. The front sides c of the hooks are sloped to catch firmly in the walls of the socket,-and the draft upon the thills is thus prevented from detaching the jaws until the thumb-piece 'n is rotated. This construction permits the insertion of both the shaft-boxes 0 into the sockets d simultaneously and secures their automatic looking within the sockets by merely pushing them to the bottom of the same.

To disengage the shafts from the wagonaxle O, the thumb-pieces n are turned simultaneously, and the hooks of the jaws are then retracted, and the boxes 0 can be drawn out of their sockets.

I am aware that a detachable pole has been connected with the hounds of a wagon by jaws which are pivoted in a sliding block and may be operated by the driver through the agency of a cord.

The object of such invention is to detach the pole in case the horse runs away; but my invention is for a different purpose and is intended simply to detach the shafts of a wagon without removing the bolts from the thillcouplings.

From the foregoing description of the operation of my improvement it is obvious that the direction of the arms Z and jaws e with relation to the fulcrum k may be reversed and the location of the holes f correspondingly changed without departing from my invention, although I consider it preferable to employ the arrangement shown and described specifically herein.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim herein is 1. The combination, with the axle-clip, of the socket d, pivoted thereto and provided with the openings f,and the thill-iron having the box 0, containing the pivoted j aws, having the arms Z and the hooks projected from the opposite sides of the box and provided with the button m, adapted to separate the arms and retract the hooks, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination, with the axle-clip, of the socket d, pivoted thereto and provided with the openings f, and the 'thill-iron having the box 0, containing the pivoted jaws, havlng the arms Z and the hooks projected from the witnesses.

WINTHROP M. SAYRE.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, J OHN VAN NEsnJr. 

